Table Bay, South Africa, is a typical headland-bay system with a shoreline that can be described by a logarithmic spiral. A peculiarity and unique feature of Table Bay is the juxtaposition of Robben Island opposite its headland. As a consequence, the bathymetry defines an ellipsoidal basin which was postulated to potentially resonate in the form of long-period standing waves (seiches). One aim of this

The Persian Gulf (PG) is a marginal sea with unique geomorphology and ocean currents, as well as various sub-basins with specific sediment characteristics. In this study, grain size distribution and microscopic examination of coarse-grained particles of 52 surface sediments of the Iranian part of the PG were performed to assess the distribution and physical characteristics of surface sediments and

A marine sediment core located off the southernmost part of the Baja California Peninsula, NE Pacific, is analyzed to investigate a submarine mass failure. We examine the lithofacies and sedimentary structures, the total organic (TOC) and inorganic (TIC) carbon, the grain size composition, and the degree of fragmentation in foraminifera tests. The core BB03 consists of five lithostratigraphic units

Sea-level rise represents a severe hazard for populations living within low-elevation coastal zones and is already largely affecting coastal communities worldwide. As sea level continues to rise following unabated greenhouse gas emissions, the exposure of coastal communities to inundation and erosion will increase exponentially. These impacts will be further magnified under extreme storm conditions

This study introduces new analytical solutions for the one-line model of shoreline change on bounded coast whose both ends are fixed by the coastal structures or rocky cliffs (solid boundaries). A general analytical solution describing shoreline evolution on the bounded coast with the arbitrary initial shape of beach fill/cut is introduced. Subsequently, several shaped types of initial shorelines,

The inner shelf of Namibia’s southwestern coastline comprises the submerged extension of the world’s largest diamond placer deposit. The onshore raised beach deposits, which are constrained by wave-cut cliffs and platforms, bevelled into the schist bedrock during palaeo-sea level stillstands, are largely mined out. As land-based operations near their practical limit, spatially accurate resource estimation

Detailed knowledge of shelf bathymetry is essential for understanding the long-term geological evolution of continental margins, the extent of the coastal plain as the shoreline moved in response to Pleistocene sea-level fluctuations, and for ecosystems management, resource exploration, and navigation. Although some areas have been mapped in detail, most South African shelf bathymetry is poorly resolved

Core OKI-152 is one of the best-dated late Holocene cores from the middle Okinawa Trough. The chronological framework and high resolution of this core can help better interpret the paleoclimatology and paleoceanography at centennial-millennial timescales. This core has been analyzed using the alkenone unsaturation index (UK′37) to determine the sea surface temperatures over the last 3.6 kyr. Temperatures

High-resolution seismic surveys were carried out at the Paranaguá Estuarine Complex (Southern Brazil) to map the intrasedimentary shallow gas. The seismic signatures representing gas accumulation were separated according to the upper gas boundary characteristics in acoustic blanking with sharp top, acoustic blanking with diffuse top, turbidity pinnacles, and black shadows (gas accumulation at the water/sediment

Calcareous nannofossil assemblages identified in manganese deposits dredged at three sites on the Mozambique Ridge and one on the Jaguar seamount in the Mozambique Basin comprise 61 species, including nine reworked ones. The samples represent cores of nodules or encrustations ranging from 4.04 to 0.00 Ma. Dating by nannofossils suggests bi-modal ages for the samples, the late Zanclean–Piacenzian (Pliocene)

A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00367-021–00,703-w

The relatively small Keurbooms/Bitou estuarine system on the south coast of South Africa forms a typical bar-built estuary, with a back-barrier lagoon and a barrier dune almost 4-km long. The lagoon is only about 500-m wide, while the barrier dune is not anchored to any substrate and consequently the position of the tidal inlet, or mouth, varies over the whole length of the barrier dune. This study

An unusual erosional surface has been identified on seismic data from the outer shelf on the northern Namibian margin. The undulating surface defines a depression extending for 1300 km2 from which fine-grained Miocene sediments have been excavated to a depth of up to 160 m. The depression has a kidney-shaped planform, with three deep pits marking its basinward extent. It is an entirely closed feature

The study deals with a large sand body (spit-bar) attached to the eastern tip of the Robberg Peninsula, Plettenberg Bay, South Africa. To date, the bar has prograded about 8 km beyond the tip of the peninsula. The bar top is predominantly composed of medium sand, the upper slope of fine sand, and the lower slope of fine muddy sand. Stratigraphically, the sedimentology thus documents an upward coarsening

Hydrothermal systems are ubiquitous in various tectonic settings and are important in transferring internal mass and energy sources from the crust and mantle to the oceans. However, the biogeochemical processes involved in subseafloor hydrothermal circulation are not fully understood. This study investigated the compositional and isotopic properties of the high-temperature fluids collected from three

Guanabara Bay is an estuarine environment of great socio-economic importance, where around 12 million people live in its drainage basin. We aim to characterize the sedimentary matter of Guanabara Bay, two mangrove systems therein (Suruí and Piedade mangroves), and the rivers, São João do Merití, Iguaçu, Sarapui, Suruí, and Guapimirim, by performing sedimentological, mineralogical, elemental/isotopic

On micro-tidal continental shelves, waves have been considered the main mechanism responsible for bottom sediment resuspension. In order to study the wave-driven sediment mobility under different weather systems on the Espírito Santo Continental Shelf, located on the Eastern Brazilian shelf, the wave-driven bottom shear stresses were compared to the critical bottom shear stress. While the first was

Submarine pockmarks are residual negative geomorphologic features on the seafloor, which are generally considered to be related to fluid escape. In this paper, the geomorphological characteristics and genetic mechanism of pockmarks in the Makran accretionary prism are analyzed by using multi-beam bathymetric data and multichannel seismic data. Dozens of pockmarks have been found on the upper continental

The Magdalena Shelf, located on the Pacific margin of Baja California, Mexico, is crosscut by the Tosco-Abreojos transform fault system, while the Santa Margarita and San Lazaro faults are sub-parallel and located east of the shear zone that cuts the continental slope longitudinally. Processing and interpretation 2D multichannel marine reflection seismic data show evidence for the structural deformation

The geomorphology of the Rufiji River delta was investigated with emphasis on the influence of the delta’s context, including the river basin, and remote-sensed delta-plain channel connectivity and shoreline morphological, sedimentary and hydrodynamic variations. The Rufiji is influenced by its East African Rift Valley tectonic context, high inter-annual water discharge variability and large mud-dominated

The Mediterranean-Atlantic water mass exchange provides the ideal setting for deciphering the role of gateway evolution in ocean circulation. However, the dynamics of Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW) during the closure of the Late Miocene Mediterranean-Atlantic gateways are poorly understood. Here, we define the sedimentary evolution of Neogene basins from the Gulf of Cádiz to the West Iberian margin

The beach sands of the Indian coast are bestowed with strategic minerals like ilmenite, monazite, rutile, sillimanite, garnet, and zircon. In order to bring out the importance of these heavy minerals, we present detailed studies on structure, surface chemistry, and absorption spectroscopy using advanced characterization techniques such as Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS),

The study area is located on the inner Agulhas Bank around Plettenberg Bay, southern Cape Province, South Africa (Fig. 1). The Agulhas Bank is a transitional environment between the cold-temperate Benguela Current regime of the south-eastern South Atlantic and the warm-temperate Agulhas Current regime of the south-western Indian Ocean. Three distinct faunal assemblages (A, B and C) were identified

The geometry of sedimentary basins is normally described by the interpretation of seismic reflectors. In addition to that, rock properties of the sedimentary successions between these reflectors give further insight into the subsurface geology. Here, we present a model for the Bay of Mecklenburg, situated at the northeastern margin of the North German Basin. The model consists of eight layers; it covers

The East African margin between the Somali Basin in the north and the Natal Basin in the south formed as a result of the Jurassic/Cretaceous dispersal of Gondwana. While the initial movements between East and West Gondwana left (oblique) rifted margins behind, the subsequent southward drift of East Gondwana from 157 Ma onwards created a major shear zone, the Davie Fracture Zone (DFZ), along East Africa

This study aimed to understand the key surfaces and the sedimentary filling pattern of the Coreaú incised valley (CIV) system (NE Brazil) using high-resolution seismic stratigraphy. Six key surfaces (Ss) and five seismic units (SUs) were identified. The difference in the basal reflector (S1) and the paleointerfluve (modern sea floor) was verified to be up to 40 m of incision, of which only 20 m are

The Eastern Mediterranean continental slope offshore Israel became a focus of exploration for, and production of, natural gas in recent years. The 2010–2011 Nautilus ROV expedition performed detailed video recordings and sampling in two areas offshore Israel: the Palmachim disturbance, southwest of Tel Aviv, and an area offshore Acre, north of Haifa. An analytical programme regarding the carbonate

Multi-channel seismic, 3.5-kHz Chirp seismic, and multibeam bathymetric data were collected along the western Black Sea margin, offshore Sakarya River, to investigate the morphology and to evaluate the potential geologic hazards. The multibeam bathymetric data show that the morphology of the margin is controlled by the Sakarya Canyon consisting of three distinct canyon heads, all incising the southern

A hitherto unpublished historical dataset of the Breede River estuary, Western Cape, South Africa, that was collected in the summer season of 1983 is presented. Bathymetric, physiographic, and sedimentological data were collected at 1–1.5-km intervals between the mouth and the Malgas ferry crossing at km 35. The remaining estuary up to km 52 was not surveyed. Sedimentologically, the estuary could be

Palar Basin in India’s southeastern margin is an intracratonic rift basin characterized by a very steep continental slope (gradient, 3°–78°). Recently acquired high-resolution swath bathymetry data from the region documented various geomorphic features on the slope of the Palar Basin, and canyons are most prominent among them. Twenty submarine canyons, grouped as the Palar Canyon System (PCS), have

Liquefaction of seabed sediments under the action of storm waves is an important form of seabed instability, which may cause damage to submarine structures such as pipelines and cables. A commonly used parameter to identify sediment liquefaction is pore pressure. The pressure response of the pore water at different depths of a silty soil seabed under storm waves was monitored by a probe rod in the

Benthic habitats are primarily determined by the nature of the substrate (i.e., the type of sediment or rock) and by the bathymetry (e.g., light availability, current, or waves exposition) both determining the viability of infaunal organisms. In this sense multibeam (MB) echosounders provide more data about the sea bottom than any other acoustic technique. During the 2014 Argentine-Canadian survey

A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00367-020-00678-0

Hydrate formation is an inhomogeneous process, which results in permeability anisotropy, i.e., permeability differs in different directions. Permeability anisotropy of hydrate-bearing sands is analyzed based on CT (computed tomography) scanning and pore network modeling in this study. A digital sample is divided into eight different parts based on hydrate distribution. Eight equivalent micropore structures

This work analyses six high-resolution multi-channel seismic profiles across the Klints Bank east of Gotland. The Klints Bank consists of a drop-shaped increase of the Quaternary thickness and is oriented in an approximately north-southern direction with a length of over 50 km, a width of about 15 km and a maximum thickness of 150 m. The glacial origin of the Klints Bank can be verified with the dataset

Due to the large volume of the Heuksan mud belt (HMB), the source of the mud and the depositional processes involved have been controversially discussed over the past two decades. To illuminate the issue, an end-member analysis (EMA) was applied to the grain-size data of 74 surficial samples in order to determine the sediment dispersal pattern on the HMB. In addition, a sedimentary facies analysis

The Gaoping River-Gaoping Submarine Canyon (GPC) is one of the dispersal river systems in the world. Tens of tons of terrestrial sediments discharge per year at the mouth of the river, where gravity-driven flow can damage the telecommunication cable along the 260-km-long GPC; to the east of the GPC, the continental shelf has been eroded. To understand this geological phenomenon, high-resolution sparker

The characterization of particles in suspension in river plumes contributes to the assessment of net particulate organic carbon (POC) fluxes and to a better understanding of the anthropogenic and climatic impact on blue carbon. Prior to POC analysis in natural waters, inorganic carbon (in the form of carbonates) must be removed. This step is generally carried out by acid leaching. However, the presence

Recent declines in oxygen concentrations in the global oceans have been particularly acute in oxygen minimum zones (OMZ) at intermediate depths. Fossil benthic foraminifera have the potential to provide useful information on the long-term biotic responses of marine organisms to past variations in the OMZ. During the last deglaciation, the OMZ at 1 km water depth in the northwestern Pacific Ocean intensified

This study applied end-member mixing analysis (EMMA) to clay minerals in Taiwan Strait sediments to determine the proportional contributions from known riverine sources, which are called end-members. Three end-members were thus determined: the rivers of Taiwan (TW), the rivers of Zhu and Min (ZM), and the rivers of Luzon (LZ). The EMMA model yielded strong and unbiased estimates of the clay mineral

The sophisticated tectonic setting and obscure structural heterogeneity over the Central Indian Ridge (CIR) make it a challenging target for geophysical study. The present study deals with the mapping of crustal structure over the southern part (18° S–25° S) of the CIR using EIGEN6C4 Bouguer gravity data. We have used the Radial Average Power Spectrum (RAPS) technique to estimate Moho depths and compared

This study presents culture experiments of the cold water species Neogloboquadrina pachyderma (sinistral) and provides new insights into the incorporation of elements in foraminiferal calcite of common and newly established proxies for paleoenvironmental applications (shell Mg/Ca, Sr/Ca and Na/Ca). Specimens were collected from sea ice during the austral winter in the Antarctic Weddell Sea and subsequently

Slope stability is a key problem for safe submarine channel operation on muddy coasts. The early detection and identification of slope instabilities is important to allow safety measures to be taken in a timely manner. Owing to the difficulties in predicting or providing early forecasts of slope collapse in muddy submarine channels, this study introduces a bidimensional empirical mode decomposition

The vertical density gradients of salinity and suspended sediment concentration (SSC) cause stratification in estuaries, which play a vital role in the turbulence structure, water mixing, and sediment transport. To investigate the effect of stratification, especially SSC-induced stratification, on maintaining the estuarine turbidity maximum (ETM), we conducted in situ measurements on sediment dynamics

Observed vertical sediment accumulation rates ( n = 1031) were gathered from ~ 55 years of peer reviewed literature. Original methods of rate calculation include long-term isotope geochronology ( 14 C, 210 Pb, and 137 Cs), pollen analysis, horizon markers, and box coring. These observations are used to create a database of global, contemporary vertical sediment accumulation rates. Rates were converted

Sagami Bay in central Japan is known as the seismogenic and tsunamigenic zone of the 1703 and 1923 Kanto earthquakes that caused devastating damage in the Tokyo metropolitan area. However, the tsunamigenic structure within the frontal wedges of the subduction zone remains unresolved after the last disastrous events. In the present study, the detailed structural features of the shallowest structure

Geomorphic analysis utilizing multibeam bathymetry and sediment profiler data along with conductivity, temperature and depth (CTD) measurements was undertaken to investigate morphological aspects of bottom current features that prevail in the area. The aim of the study was to deduce the prevailing water mass in the area and to infer interactions between water mass and seabed of South Eastern Arabian

Two short-term summer cruises were performed in the vicinity of Rizhao Port, western Yellow Sea, to investigate summer water stratification and the phenomenon of marine sediment acidification. Results show that water stratification has formed as early as in May. The chemoclines of dissolved oxygen (DO) and pH usually occur deeper than the thermocline. Sometimes the chemoclines of DO and pH occur synchronously

Morphological features on low-latitude continental shelves have recorded past sea level fluctuations. This study aims to recognize and interrogate, on the Rio Grande do Norte (RN, NE Brazil) outer shelves, specific seabed morphologies that could have been produced by the punctuated relative sea level rise of the last deglaciation. These sea floor morphologies, imaged by single-beam bathymetric data

Several studies have highlighted the difficulties inherent to the use of bimodal fluvial sediments in beach nourishment and the resulting unpredictable behaviour of the beach profile. In this paper, we monitored the temporal evolution of a nourishment project carried out on a northwestern Mediterranean beach and using fluvial mixed sand and gravel nourishment material. The main aim of the study was

In 2011, a yacht marina was built in Sopot (the largest holiday resort in Poland), which initiated the formation of a local shallowing of the bottom related to the tombolo effect. The building of the marina led to disturbances in the transmission of bottom deposits along the coast, which resulted from waves and the shift of the beach coastline by approx. 50 m towards the sea. Its effects include progressive

This article [1] has been retracted at the request of the Editors-in-Chief because it has been previously published by Bae, S.H., Yoon, H.I., Park, B. et al [2]. This article is therefore redundant.

This paper provides a novel classification scheme for magma-induced subsurface vent complexes based on morphometric data and stacking patterns. The study area is the Naglfar Dome in the Vøring Basin where the interaction between magmatic intrusions and vent complexes is well known. Seismic interpretation, characterization and morphometric analyses of 35 vent complexes observed within the Palaeocene-Eocene

Coastal erosion under the context of global sea-level rise has threatened societies living along the coast. The processes related to decadal- to centennial-scale shoreline changes are much more complex than those suggested by the Bruun effect. This paper derives a one-dimensional model to explore the relationships between shoreline change, profile concavity, and sediment fluxes in wave-dominated coastal

Shallow sediment (< 1000 m below the seafloor) along modern continental margins hosts enormous quantities of low molecular weight hydrocarbons (mostly methane, CH4) that exist as free (gas) bubbles, clathrates (or gas hydrates), or dissolved in water. The total amount and correct distribution of these hydrocarbons at present-day remain wildly unconstrained, principally because of current complications

Spectral gamma-ray measurements were carried out on eight cores collected in the Bransfield Strait at points distributed over a cross section connecting the South Shetland Islands (NW) and the Antarctic Peninsula (SE). These cores were acquired during the cruises OPERANTAR XXXIII, XXXIV, and XXXV, aboard the P/V Almirante Maximiano, from the Brazilian Navy, within the scope of the project “Use of Sedimentary

The Saronikos Gulf hosts the northwestern end of the South Aegean Active Volcanic Arc. It is affected by extensional back-arc tectonism in a prominent N-S direction, while older E-W rifting is also manifested. Recently acquired swath bathymetry and high-resolution seismic profiles led to the precise morphological mapping of five Quaternary continental shelf basins, along with their neotectonic delineations